Appearances Can Decieve
Chapter 13
'Release'
- Alright serious note here- This chapter for some reason or another really isn't rubbing me the right way. Some parts of it i like and some i don't, maybe because it's a lot more....idk.....it's just different somehow. So anyway what i'm going to do is this. I know i haven't been updating regularly so i may have lost quite a few readers. Anyway in the reviews if you aren't happy with this chapter let me know. Either say "Re-do" or "it's fine". Thanks
SR: I'm back with the chapter! Yay!!!, and heck yes is it mushy and dramatic and...and....well i ran out of things to say. Except for it's gonna rock!
Naruto: .....*Idiot*
Hinata: *Oh my Sammi-Chan* Enjoy! ^_^
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The wind rushed through the trees rattling the leaves. The forest of death looked the same as the last time the three genin had entered. This time however it didn't seem to hold as much foreboding as it had the first time. The gates had been open hours ago now it seemed, and the team had yet to speak to one another. Ino of course wasn't talking for the simple fact that, well she couldn't. Her throat was hurting terribly and one word would tell them she was ill.
Hinata was to wrapped up in her own thoughts to even think of speaking. Sure it was, semi, easy last time to get a scroll. The other genin had been just as inexperienced as she'd been. But now they had to fight shinobi they knew, and she knew what each one of them was capable of. Her confidence slowly waved back and fourth between whether or not she was capable. The voice in the back of her head screamed out encouragement. Of course she could do it! But then there was that insecurity she could never get rid of.
"We need a strategy." Naruto was getting tired of the silence. So he decided to speak up. Besides if they were going to 'work together' then they at least needed a plan.
The three of them stopped in a very small clearing to discuss there 'plan'. Ino was feeling a bit nauseous so she decided to sit under the shade of a tree. While Hinata and Naruto stood around her. After checking the area for any un-welcomed guests Hinata deactivated her byakugan and spoke.
"Your right Naruto-kun. First off we need a safety net...a....password. So we can identify each other." Hinata suggested remembering Kiba's idea from the last time. Ino simply nodded her agreement.
"Alright then what do you suggest Angel?"
"That's it! Perfect now you two" Hinata smiled as Okito scoffed, then thought of what she could do for the other two.
"How about sh-ino for little Miss Halloween over there." Naruto smirked pointing to the over bundled Ino.
Both Naruto and Hinata had expected the girl to jump up and bash the blondes head in. Or at least scream at him in her shrill boorish manner. Instead she simply nodded. Naruto had to shake the goose bumps from his flesh. She was just not acting normal today. Something was definitely up.
"Well...ok, if it's ok with Ino?" Hinata said a little skeptically. Ino once again just nodded her agreement, her inner self screaming out the promise of a soon to be dead Naruto dying inside her mind.
"Ok well what about you Naruto-kun?"
Naruto thought a moment then spoke without hesitation. His eyes fixed on Hinata's with a spark that seemed to indicate he knew a secret just for the two of them.
"Kyuubi"
Hinata's mouth fell open instantly, in sync with Okito's and Ino's...though you couldn't tell if Ino was giving off any kind of expression. Hinata's fingers met in a fierce battle that hadn't been since she was twelve.
'Does he know? Does he know I was sneaking around in his room?! No....... Probably not.' Hinata thought. Then another worry popped into her head. 'What if he knows I talked to Jiraya! What if he's angry that I know his secret!.....stop it! you don't know that!"
"O-o-ok Naruto-K-kun." Hinata stuttered out still partly in her mind.
Naruto smirked. "Ok then we all got our 'names'. There to be used only in case we get split up. Understood?"
Both girls nodded there heads.
"Well since that's taken care of I think we should get some rest. The sun is close to setting, and we don't want to be tired when we fight." Naruto said
"We should take turns on watch. I'll take the first shift." Hinata said with a smile. Besides she had some things to think over, and sort out.
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The room was dimly lit. Four figures seated comfortably across from one another on worn out looking sofa's. A coffee table between them with scattered cards, a pile of change, and shots of sake. Music played softly in the background going almost completely unnoticed.
"How's Naruto's treatment going?" Tsunade asked the man sitting next to her. Glancing idly at her cards, not quite interested in the game. But determined to get the 300 ryo in the middle of the table.
Jiraya just shrugged his shoulders. "As expected. He's made some progress. Seems your idea's aren't all bad....some anyway."
Tsunade just scoffed at the old pervert, throwing down two of her cards and picking up two more. Yugao looked up at Tsunade in mild surprise. No one told her Naruto was getting 'treatment', and Kakashi seemed not to be too worried about it. Then again he never seemed to be worried about anything other than that book.
"Treatment?" Yugao asked.
Jiraya smiled slamming down his cards. "Ha! Two pair! Take that ya old bat!"
Tsunade scowled and slammed down her cards. "Full house you pervert!"
Jiraya's jaw dropped and soon enough an argument had broken out between the two. One was an old ugly hag. The other was a desperate hideous pervert. And the list went on and on. Eventually Yugao laid her cards down and took a small sip of sake. She felt she deserved it after a few minutes with these two.
"Royal flush." She stated matter-of-factly stopping the bickering immediately. Creating two irritate looking sannin.
"So you said something about Naruto getting some sort of treatment. What kind?" Yugao asked again.
Jiraya sighed and sunk back into the cushions of the couch. "Well although I had this conversation…..or more like a similar conversation with you once already. I guess we could talk about it again."
Yugao narrowed her eyes. "We had this conversation already?"
"Well in a sense yes." Jiraya laughed. "That little kunoichi of yours is quite a treat. Of course she learned from you so it's to be expected."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand. You're talking about Hyuuga Hinata correct?"
Jiraya nodded with a smile. "The little thing followed me all around Konoha. Thought I couldn't detect her, it actually made my day a little better. It's not everyday you get chased around by a pretty girl.....of course she was disguised as you...."
Jiraya wiggled his eye brows as he did every time he hit on a woman, but as usual Yugao missed the compliment. Instead focusing on the fact.
"She was disguised as me? Why?
"To get information of course, about Naruto. I'll tell ya, when she has her mind set on something she gets quite determined. I can't remember how many questions she'd asked me. Way too many to count."
"Did you tell her about the treatment Naruto is getting?"
Tsunade shook her head. "Of course not. He can't do that. She's a part of it."
Kakashi who had been quiet, lost in his own little Icha Icha paradise world finally felt the need to speak up. "It would have little effect if she were aware of it."
Yugao looked down at the corner of the coffee table not necessarily focusing on it. Just staring off. Slightly agitated at the fact that everyone here knew of this so called 'treatment' except her. Even though it clearly involved Hinata.
"Well what is it then? The treatment? If it concerns Hinata then it's my business, and I wish to know."
Jiraya smiled "Well alright but it's a pretty long story."
Yugao smirked "I'm in no rush."
"Alright well here it goes." Jiraya sighed. "You might have noticed that Naruto has changed over the last two years. Well I believe that's my fault. I'd given up on him, we were both angry, and one thing led to another. Anyway because I refused to help him, he resorted to the Kyuubi. At first I thought nothing of it. It wasn't a big deal to me. I honestly didn't think that the Kyuubi could teach him much. However I was wrong. He changed in more than strength. The Naruto I knew slowly started to disappear. He didn't smile anymore, he never laughed, and he just stopped caring. Rules meant nothing and respect was non-existent."
Yugao leaned in, her elbows resting on her knees, caught up in the story. Kakashi had laid his book aside, his attention focused on Jiraya. Just as Tsunade's.
"The time I started noticing most of these changes in Naruto is when we entered the land of snow. I decided for some training we would take up some missions. Maybe even get some money while we were at it. One happened to be open. A small village a few miles away from the city was in turmoil. Seemed some rogue Nin were forcing there authority onto these people. Stealing and killing people apparently for no other good reason but the profit. We made it out there a few days later and saw just how bad the situation was for these people. I'll tell ya....that village......was terrible. Buildings were in shambles. People slept out on the streets. Even children, who looked rail thin were curled up under newspapers barely any kind of clothing shielding them from the weather. It was sick."
Jiraya paused a moment getting the images from his mind.
"Naruto hadn't even blinked when we got there. The compassion you would have....should have seen. It was gone. Instead he told me. "If there too weak to fight for themselves then how can they expect someone else to do it for them....pathetic." Then he was gone. Just like that. He left. At first I was angry with him. I hated how he was acting, but then like I always did I brushed it off. It was just a little phase he was going through. I figured he would, as he always does, just get over it and the next morning I would wake to him screaming out ' I'm going to be Hokage' rant..... But he never got over his 'phase'. It slowly got worse. On missions there was no such thing as an innocent by standard. If you got in the way in a fight you were the target. There was no such thing as a minor crime, you were guilty, you died. I can't remember how many times I had to stop him from hurting someone......and all those times I couldn't."
Jiraya shook his head.
"Anyway through all of this in the back of my mind I still knew Naruto was in there somewhere. He just needed someone to pull him back out, and it obviously wasn't me. So when we returned to Konoha I met with Tsunade and told her everything about the past two years. Then she told me of a plan, but first we would have to find the so called 'guinea pig'. Which is where Hinata came into the picture. No offense but that's the only way to explain it."
"No offence taken." Yugao assured Jiraya
"Well in all honesty I thought it would have been Sakura. After all he was so infatuated with the girl, and she was one of his reasons for getting so strong, but I've been wrong about other things as well. Anyway Tsunade told me to follow Naruto around and see if anything around the village peeked his interest, held his attention.....hell made him smile even! Well it just so happened that Hinata was that person. It had been a few hours since we arrived when I caught up to him and saw him 'chatting' with Hinata. Actually it was more like arguing but still that was more than I had ever gotten out of the kid. So I reported back to Tsunade and we decided that we needed him to spend more time with her."
"The Chunnin exams." Yugao exclaimed suddenly.
Tsunade nodded. "I lied to Naruto. I told him in order to advance to a Jounin which we believe is the level he's at. He at least had to be above a gennin level. Which means that he would need to take the Chunnin exams. Knowing Hinata had yet to take them, I called you in to ask your permission to enter her. That's when you first met Naruto."
Yugao nodded playing that moment over in her head. "So you had this all thought out."
"Seems they're pretty cunning." Kakashi smiled under his mask.
Yugao laughed. "Seems so. Well how is my little imouto-chan doing then?"
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The sun had set and a full moon hung in the sky, stars dancing around it glowing. Hinata sat on a large boulder a few feet away from the rest of the team. Drifting in and out of her thoughts, while simultaneously checking the area for intruders.
Ino had practically passed out, leaning against a tree. Okito curled up in her lap cuddling against her heavy coat. While Naruto tossed and turned in the grass. Unable to fall asleep once again.
He could feel it! That terrible feeling was back in the pit of his stomach making him squirm and wish he could just cut it out of himself so for once he could sleep in peace. Self - mutilation however was not very high on his list of things to do. So he continued to toss and turn until, getting agitated, he made his way to his feet and walked toward Hinata.
She sat there staring up at the sky, her shining indigo hair bathed in the glow of the moon. Naruto caught himself staring and crawled up to sit behind her. Wrapping his arms tightly around the girl. Hinata jumped slightly. Naruto had unknowingly, or so it seemed, walked right into her blind spot. At first she was started by his embrace, but soon eased into it.
"You should be sleeping Naruto-kun." she cooed.
"I'm not tired." He said brushing his cheek against hers like an affectionate puppy.
Hinata giggled, turning her head to sneak in a quick kiss.
"I miss you Hina. Why won't you move back in with me?" Naruto asked.
Hinata looked away back up to the sky with a small frown. Why didn't she move back in with him? She couldn't say exactly why to be honest. She didn't want to ever feel helpless again, like she did the day she saw Naruto with Sakura and had no where to go but back to his house.....but she pushed those feelings away and replied casually.
"The ramen smell was making me delirious." She stated quite seriously but then giggled when Naruto nipped at her neck playfully.
"Better question." He whispered against her neck, tingling her skin and sending chills through her body. "Since when did you start showing up to guy's apartments with suitcases. Moving in without even getting permission? You've changed quite a bit Hinata"
Hinata smiled. "Oh, it's just something I do every once in a while."
Naruto pulled back narrowing his eyes with a foxy smile. "Oh yeah? Who else have you been moving in with?"
Hinata turned in his arms. Facing him with a challenging smirk. "That's confidential Uzumaki. If I told you I'd have to kill you."
"Hmm. well is torture optional." Naruto wiggled his eyebrows. A habit he'd picked up unconsciously from the Ero-sennin.
Hinata pushed him away playfully. "You pervert!"
"You have no idea." He replied with a slick smile. Running his fingers through her hair then pulling her down into a tender kiss.
"You're very affectionate today. Are you ok?" she asked jokingly
Naruto just shrugged with a smile. Turning Hinata back around in his arms and resting his head on her shoulder. She melted into his embrace lifting a delicate hand to brush idly through his messy blonde locks. His eyes slowly slid shut a content smile on his lips as different thoughts started to drift into his mind. Like how Hinata could change so much, but still be the same sweet girl he'd always known. Which got him thinking of how much he had changed in the years....and why he'd changed.
"Hinata, what made you change so much?"
A small breeze rushed through taking with it her faint laugh. "I haven't changed that much....I've always been like this. I just only let certain people see."
"Why?" Naruto grabbed her hand and rubbed his thumb across her small fingers. Seemingly entranced at how fragile they seemed compared to his larger more calloused hands. Though his full attention was focused on the conversation at hand.
Hinata glanced down as he entwined there fingers then away into the darkness of the forest. "Because I didn't like myself very much back then."
"Because you were shy?" Naruto asked having absolutely no idea why on earth she would feel that way about herself.
She shook her head biting her bottom lip unconsciously. This was the most she had ever let out to anyone, not even her onee-chan knew how she'd felt. "Not only that. I hated that I couldn't speak one sentence without stuttering horribly. That I fainted so much I was pretty sure I was going to have permanent brain damage. I didn't have many friends....sure I talked to Sakura...Ino...you, but when? On missions! I had Kiba and Shino. I love them don't get me wrong, but there are some things you just don't talk about with boys."
Naruto smiled softly. "Oh yeah like what?"
A small blush spread across her cheeks. "Like...well...confidential stuff."
"Well you're just full of confidential information." He smirked tugging a strand of hair away from her face. "Go ahead, keep going. I didn't mean to interrupt."
Hinata rolled her eyes with a smile. "Well besides that. I didn't get along very well with my family. You've seen some of it first hand from Neji, though now we get along fairly well. Hanabi, my younger sister, hated me for such a long time though. She hated me for the same reason that my father disapproved of me, because I was too weak to be a Hyuuga."
"My father disapproved of me so much that once he told Kurenai sensei that I am weaker than my younger sister therefore I am useless to the Hyuuga Clan. It hurt a lot knowing that I was so alone even though I had so many people around me........ I'd felt that way since the day my mother died."
Hinata's eye's were slicked over with unshed tears, but she didn't let them fall. "I hadn't cried that day....when we buried her. My father said that it was weakness. She was in a better place and I needed to grow up and move on." She let out a muffled laugh. "I was only 7 then. So I did what my father said. I didn't cry. Whenever I felt the tears coming I would push it down deeper inside so I wouldn't feel it. That's the way it stayed as I grew up. When I cried it was in little spurts of depression and only lasted seconds before it was gone. Till one day.....a few days after you left to train with Jiraya-sama, my father and I got into the biggest fight we'd ever been in."
"What happened?" Naruto could feel his heart tightening with pain. Her voice was laced with sobs, but she kept them in just as she did her tears, and though he couldn't place why. It felt horrible, just like it did every other time, that she was hurting so badly.
A cloud floated past the light of the full moon. Drowning the couple in the darkness of the night, before moving along and allowing the light of the moon to shine. Hinata looked back toward her hand still entwined with Naruto's. She had told him so much already.....could she tell him what he'd said? Could she really tell him something that she hasn't fully forgiven her father for. Something she had yet to even tell her onee-san.
Naruto felt her stiffen in his arms again, but this time he wasn't going to change the subject. Pulling his hand away from Hinata's to turn her around, fully facing him now. "Hinata what happened?"
She looked down at the boulder, calming herself by running her fingers through the softness of the moss. "I had been training with my little sister, as I always had, and like always I was losing. Horribly. My father got angry......very angry. So he decided he would spar with me instead. I couldn't keep up and I began to lose even worse than I had with Hanabi. It made him even angrier that I was so weak, and I was dismissed to my room......"
Naruto knew that wasn't all. It couldn't be. Not when silent tears, that he was sure she hadn't noticed yet, were streaming down her face. "What happened?"
Another breeze swept past blowing her hair into her face. She used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears she'd just noticed. With one last breath she turned away from Naruto. Pulling her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over her chest.
"He said that if I was too weak to help myself why should he bother to help 'me'? Besides," She shuddered because she could still feel the loathing as she repeated the words her father had told her. "I knew you were bound to fail. What your mother saw in you I'll never know.....you are her shame! and mine....your dismissed."
Hinata was silent waiting for Naruto to say something...anything. He probably thought she was an idiot for getting so emotional about something so stupid. Yet he said nothing instead he wrapped her up in his arms, Holding her as close as humanly possible. After a few minutes of silence he spoke up.
"Is that why you're living with Yugao-san?"
She nodded her head. "I met her the night I ran away....right after the fight. She offered to train me and… and shelter me...she offered to help me. And I took it."
'If I'm too weak to help myself why should he bother to 'help' me?' Hinata's words echoed through his mind. It sounded eerily familiar to something he had once said to people in the land of snow who suffered just like....or worse than his Hinata-chan. Was 'he' just like Hiashi? No he couldn't be....besides there was truth in it right?!....Hinata did help herself; she fixed her situation in life with her 'own' help...right?
"So you helped yourself.....like your father said?"
She narrowed her eyes and turned to face Naruto. "Of course not."
The answer took him back a bit. He'd expected her to admit that her father had been almost half right.
Seeing the confused expression on Naruto's face disappointed Hinata a bit. He couldn't possibly agree with what her father said. Did he?
"Without somebody else to help me and push me, I would still be stuttering through my words. Yugao helped me. She believed in me even when I didn't believe I was worth anything. People who say that you need to help yourself are selfish people! Those people....they!....." Hinata caught herself before she began to scream.
The words she had wanted to say died down before she could let them out. The things she had wanted.....still wanted to scream to her father were pushed back down and put in check. She had forgiven him! Even if he had never taken back what he said...nor apologized. She forgave him, because ultimately she had proven him wrong. And to her that in itself was humiliation enough.
"They just don't know what there talking about..." She said quieter. Then she laughed. "You know Yugao wasn't the only one who helped me."
"Really?" he asked
"Really. You helped me a lot....even if you didn't know it. I've always loved you Naruto-kun. Even when we were young, I looked up to you because you were just the way I thought a man should be. You were strong and brave. Smart even when you acted as though you hadn't a clue, and you always stuck up for what you believed in, and those weaker than you......You were - are everything to me...."
Hinata smiled as she saw the small yet visible blush spread across Naruto's cheeks. He looked away for a moment, embarrassed from her words of praise before turning back to her. "Ano...I-I"
Hinata just laughed softly. Her words had embarrassed him. So she was going to be kind and leave him alone for awhile to think. She may have told him how she felt for him, but that didn't mean she expected him to just pour his heart out to her. She would wait for him. Until he was ready she would wait patiently.
"I'm going to get some sleep....will you be ok?"
Naruto nodded not knowing what else to say.
SR- Tada! It was wonderful right? Hell yeah it was! ^.^
Chouji- Sweet I get to do the announcements for the next episode!!! ok here it goes (coughcough) NE-
Okito- (interupts Chouji) "NEXT TIME ON APPARENCES CAN DECIEVE! It's time for the team to get down to business and kick major butt! Don't miss it! They'll be twist, turns and more of me of course!!!"
Chouji - (face turns red) YOU STUPID LITTLE RAT!! (chases Okito off stage)
SR - ^_~ Don't miss it!
RD & Naruto - 0_0''
Hinata - Don't forget your reviews make us all smile....and it stops the fighting....at least for a little while! So be kind and review!! ^_^
SR- Nice guilt trip Hina-Chan! I'm so proud T_T